How to Stay Organized During the Busy Semester

This blog was written by Campus Ambassador, Liz Bartlein of University of Wisconsin.

I have always been the girl who loves office supplies and organization materials. Therefore, it is an extremely rare occasion that you don’t see me with my planner. Since about 4th grade, when I received my first “agenda” I have been a fan of to-do lists, deadlines and making sure that everything in my planner is up to date and current. I have known of people who are able to get by without a planner, and honestly I am not quite sure I understand how they could do it. This semester I am working a 20 hour internship, holding a position as the Immediate Past President to UW-Whitewater’s American Marketing Association and taking my final 15 credits of my undergrad education. To top that off, I have recently started applying for jobs… which in itself could basically qualify as a job.

Therefore, as most of you busy interns know keeping your life organized can be another task on that to-do list. Here are a few suggestions to keep that intern busy girl lifestyle going as smooth as possible:

1.Planner. Get yourself a reliable and decent sized planner. I have tried little and I have tried big but the ones that are just a little smaller than a regular size notebook are my absolute favorite. They are large enough that I can organize all the information I need for each of my duties. There are some great places to pick up a functional and stylish planner such as Staples, Vera Bradley, Office Max, Target and Erin Condren.

2.Once you have your planner, you can develop an organized and simple pattern to how you label your commitments/assignments. For me, I use different color highlighters for each of my activities. Yellow for classes, pink for my organizations and orange for school. This helps me organize visually what needs to be done and helps me plan out my day/week.

3.To-Do Lists. These are a lifesaver. Even though my planner is color-coded and by my side 24/7 it can get pretty crowed. Therefore, I make short-term to-do lists so I can visually see myself check off the thing that needed to be done and ultimately work toward the entire list being completed.

4.If you are such a busy intern that doesn’t have time to write in a planner and is constantly near a computer or owns a Google powered phone, Google Calendar is a great alternative to the old style written planner. It notifies you when you have an assignment or meeting. For you BB and iPhone users, I am sure there is some sort of app on your device you can use!

Now that you know a little bit of how I organize my busy schedule, I encourage you to get organizing and make your school/intern week a forlittle simpler!

InternQueen.com

Lauren Berger created Intern Queen Inc. in 2009, after successfully completing 15 internships and college and recognizing a need for more internship resources. Her online platform, www.internqueen.com, serves as the home of the business and allows students access to apply for any internship they want free of charge. The site also features daily content on how to make the most of high school, college, and post-grad experiences.